Just a few minutes ago, I had the chance to talk with Democratic State Senator Chris Larson (pictured, left) about today’s historic recall elections.
Asked to share his thoughts on tonight’s results, Larson stated what most pundits believe to be true – that tonight’s elections will be very close. “I think we’re gonna definitely get Jen Schilling elected on the left side of the state, but otherwise, it’s really too close to call,” Sen. Larson added. Larson noted that there have only been 20 recall elections in history of the United States, so having six recall elections in August in Wisconsin means there’s not much to compare to what’s going on in Wisconsin, but he said he was “optimistic” that people saw through the piles of money thrown into Wisconsin by the Koch brothers and will vote for the Democrats challenging the six incumbent Republican State Senators.
Asked specifically about the race pitting incumbent Republican State Senator Alberta Darling against Democratic State Rep. Sandy Pasch, Larson noted the “amazing amount of money being spent,” as well as the extremely negative ads being aired and mailers being sent out by both the Darling campaign and third party right-wing groups supporting Sen. Darling’s campaign. Sen. Larson noted that the negative turn taken by Sen. Darling and the right-wing groups supporting her campaign shows that they’re not standing up on the issues; they’re just going negative.
Our conversation turned to Sen. Larson’s tour around Wisconsin to help the six Democrats challenging the incumbent Republicans, Larson said he was received pretty well wherever he went. He noted he helped with get out the vote efforts for Shelly Moore, did doors in Rhinelander for Sen. Jim Holperin, attended a rally for Jess King, and knocked on doors, did get out the vote calls, and worked on envelopes for Nancy Nusbaum. “The really cool thing about it all was the amount of enthusiasm; each candidate said they had never seen so much enthusiasm,” Larson noted, adding that everyone seemed to be engaged and were willing to do tons of work, including many independents who had voted Republican in the past but who were helping out with Democratic campaigns in each of the districts. “I think that bodes well for Democrats tonight,” Larson said of the support by independents for the Democratic campaigns.
During our conversation, I noted multiple reports of extremely high turnout (in some cases surpassing turnout in the 2008 presidential election), and I noted that some Republicans are citing high turnout in traditionally Republican areas as a good sign for their candidates. Sen. Larson noted that high turnout in traditionally Republican areas isn’t necessarily a good sign for Republicans, as Gov. Walker turned off some republican voters with his hard turn to the right after being inaugurated.
As we wrapped up our conversation, I asked Sen. Larson if he had any thoughts on Republican Gov. Scott Walker signing the radical Republican redistricting plan into law earlier today, Sen. Larson noted that in signing the redistricting plan into law, Gov. Walker has shown that despite his words about working in a bipartisan manner with Democrats in Wisconsin ring hollow – there’s nothing to it. Sen. Larson went on to add that the redistricting plan signed into law by Gov. Walker is the most divisive redistricting map in a generation – a map so highly partisan it had to be signed into law on a day when no one is paying attention to anything but the historic recalls of six sitting Republican State Senators.
Schilling…is that the district where the DNC sent out robocalls to tell people to vote on August 16?
Bullshit, you asswipe. Another lying sack of shit posts on Blogging Blue.
You can’t handle the truth…
http://lacrossetribune.com/news/article_327e4010-ba67-11e0-9604-001cc4c03286.html
Yes, the wise sage Chris Larson…tell me what was close? Only the Hopper race came close to that prediction.
So all that money the Democrats spent, especially in the Pasch race, just got flushed.
Clearly, the liberals and Democrats once again threw millions of dollars at the electorate and once again, the electorate slapped it back.
What excuse are the liberals going to use after they lose big time tonight?
Since 2010, liberals and their ideas have been shot down in Wisconsin in the governor’s race, the legislator’s races, the Supreme Court race and now, the recall elections. Next week, there is a good chance that 2 Dem’s may go down in flames in their recall elections.
Interesting facts on the Darling race:
In 2008, during a landslide Democrat victory, Darling won a VERY close race (50.5% to 49.5%) with nearly 100,000 votes cast.
Yet all the OUTRAGE and big spending during the recall election and all the money put into this race less than 75,000 votes were cast (OK, not all are in, but it’s pretty close to that number) and Darling wins 54% to 46%.
So, pour TONS of money into a race, and get FEWER people to the polls, and LOSE by a wider margin. Mike Tate, that’s certainly not the direction you expected, was it?
Actually most of the election spending and dirty tricks like AFP are want to do are to SUPPRESS the turnout not INCREASE it. They dont want people to vote, never have and never will. They want to muddy the waters so badly that no one wants to get in.
Mark, a predictable response, to say the least. But if it weren’t for uncompromising politicians beholden to outside interests (and not their constituents) taking radical actions, none of these elections had to happen in the first place. Scott Walker lost two of his rubber stamps in the Senate. There’s no way he can polish that turd, but we can sit back and laugh while we watch him try.
OH, you mean like the Democrats beholden to the Teachers Union?
Face it, please. The Democrats put EVERYTHING into this election, and lost.
Polishing a turd? Please read Chris Larson’s interview. That, my friend, is high-gloss turd polishing at its best.
And again, you brush away the reason why these elections happened in the first place. They didn’t have to happen. That point is irrefutable. One man had the power to prevent this and his complete misreading of the political landscape led to two of his allies losing their jobs. Do you think that was his strategy on inauguration night? Did he seriously think that losing two seats in the Senate was a good price to pay BEFORE he submitted his repair bill?
And then lie about it? Over and over and over again?
This is a leader???? Seriously????
Polish away.
Beam me up Scotty. There are no manners on this planet.
” Larson noted the “amazing amount of money being spent,””
Yes Chris. A reported $30 Million by Unions and the left. That is a lot of money that could have gone towards pensions and benefits. What good did it do? Republican’s still have control of the Senate and Darling is still there to advance her school reform agenda.
Like I said before. It’s over. Ironic that Progressivism died in the same state it was created, isn’t it?
Chrissy Larson was right on one point: “…people saw through the piles of money thrown into Wisconsin by…”
… AFSCME ($3 million), AFL-CIO ($5 million), SEIU ($1.1 million), AFT ($700k), Teamsters ($250k), UFCW ($250k), NEA ($200k), and some guy from Chicago named Fred Eyechaner ($200k).
Just to mention a few.